Thursday, November 11, 2010

Christianity older than Iraq and Islam

"Christians have been living in Iraq since long before it was called Iraq and centuries before Mohammed was born. Ancient Assyrians converted to Christianity during the first century A.D.

Back then, Iraq was part of what was known as Mesopotamia and it would not be until the eighth century A.D. that Islam arrived. Even today, tombs of Old Testament Jewish prophets such as Ezekiel and Daniel dot Iraq."

Adam is a mythical character in Jewish legends, probably derived from earlier Babylonian legends.

The new religion of Islam incorporated some (often inaccurate) versions of these Jewish legends. That doesn't make Adam a Muslim, any more than he could be a Communist, a Rock Star, or any other type that didn't exist when the legends arose.

"'Christianity' practised in those early days was somewhat different from that practised today."

It would have to change a bit because of the pressure of Muslim domination, but I doubt if Christianity as practiced in Iraq has changed much over the centuries. Do you have any different information?

European Christianity is clearly very different from early or medieval Christianity. For example, the Catholics accept the reality of the solar system (with the Sun at its centre) and evolution of life.

Israel's veteran Foreign Minister use to remind those of his fellow European Jews whose atittude towards the Jews from Arab countries & Iran tended to be negative that Abraham was an Iraqi Jew and Moses an Egyptian Jew! In more historical terms Jews were part of Iraq since the time of the Babylonian conquest of ancient Israel in 586 BC. The subsequent captivity of the Jews in Babylon was the start of the Jewish community in Iraq that lasted more than 2,500 years until the Jews were driven out in the 1950s and 60s.

Baghdad in 2000: "A woman known as Um Haydar was beheaded reportedly without charge or trial at the end of December 2000. She was 25 years' old and married with three children. Her husband was sought by the security authorities reportedly because of his involvement in Islamist armed activities against the state. He managed to flee the country. Men belonging to Feda'iyye Saddam came to the house in al-Karrada district and found his wife, children and his mother. Um Haydar was taken to the street and two men held her by the arms and a third pulled her head from behind and beheaded her in front of the residents. The beheading was also witnessed by members of the Ba'ath Party in the area. The security men took the body and the head in a plastic bag, and took away the children and the mother-in-law. The body of Um Haydar was later buried in al-Najaf. The fate of the children and the mother-in-law remains unknown."